DevShed starts off another two parts series today with a look at a common feature of many a community site out there - the creation of a simple forum to allow visitors to interact and discuss the latest.

Most websites have some method of interacting with a visitor. Some have a chat system and others have shoutboxes or other ways to attract the visitor to return. One of the most used methods is a discussion forum. And this is what we are going to create and discuss in this article.

This is part one they create the main index page, listing out the current topics, a "view article" page to show the details of the post, and, of course, a way to respond to the current thread for any and all to use. Keep an eye out for the next article where they create the administrative section for the application.

DevShed starts off another two parts series today with a look at a common feature of many a community site out there - the creation of a simple forum to allow visitors to interact and discuss the latest.

Most websites have some method of interacting with a visitor. Some have a chat system and others have shoutboxes or other ways to attract the visitor to return. One of the most used methods is a discussion forum. And this is what we are going to create and discuss in this article.

This is part one they create the main index page, listing out the current topics, a "view article" page to show the details of the post, and, of course, a way to respond to the current thread for any and all to use. Keep an eye out for the next article where they create the administrative section for the application.

vlado, thinking more about a previous post, started wondering what exactly you'd need to do to get macros working in PHP. Read on for his answers.

What is the closest we can get to that without actually changing anything in php (poor man's version? What minimal sugar does php need to make it comfy? What is the natural syntax for macros in php? I definitely don't know the answers to these questions but let's try.

He doesn't create working code, but he does make it a PHP-ish looking solution. He also suggests that while PHP doesn't have this ability (yet?), the generic function pattern can help mimic its functionality pretty closely.

vlado, thinking more about a previous post, started wondering what exactly you'd need to do to get macros working in PHP. Read on for his answers.

What is the closest we can get to that without actually changing anything in php (poor man's version? What minimal sugar does php need to make it comfy? What is the natural syntax for macros in php? I definitely don't know the answers to these questions but let's try.

He doesn't create working code, but he does make it a PHP-ish looking solution. He also suggests that while PHP doesn't have this ability (yet?), the generic function pattern can help mimic its functionality pretty closely.